Now that Cisco Live (Networkers) is over, and we are all heading home, I thought it would be a good idea to give the event a report card in as many categories as I can think of.
Category Grade Comments
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Hotels B+ I liked the selection of hotels and
proximity to the conference.
Buses C They worked quickly, but were often
full. I had to wait 35 minutes on
Thursday morning (after the party)
as 5 full buses drove by. Better
coordination and some express buses
from each hotel are needed.
Conference A I liked the size of the rooms, and
Center openness of the convention center and
the size and shape of the keynote rooms.
Definitely a good spot. Oh, and it's
finally on the East Coast for once!!!
Training A- I took all wireless classes and was
very happy with the training.
Presenters were prepared, PPT slides
were nearly correct, and, at least for
wireless, there were a good amount
of demos instead of just death-by-PPT.
Food D+ Cisco continues to go cheap on
Techtorial-day lunches, handing out a
cheap sandwich for people already paying
$700 for a class. Plus, the breakfastes
are now continental which is not exactly
a power breakfast that is going to keep
me awake all morning. The other meals
were uninspiring also, except for one
lunch which I enjoyed.
Snacks F These were ultra-cheap this year. What
was with those rice snacks? Other
snacks included small bags of chips or
fruit bars. Where's the good stuff?
Drinks were bad too, limited to Pepsi
products. Even water was from water
coolers which was warm. If you are
going to put out water coolers instead
of bottled water, have some ice for people.
On-Site Help A I found the support staff helpful and
outgoing, ready to answer questions and
provide help.
Cisco Store D Most of this stuff must be made out of
gasoline becuase it was PRICEY! $65
for a Cisco shirt? I think Cisco can
sell at cost during Networkers instead
of their normal 40% margin. (That being
said, it seemed people were buying stuff
like crazy). The store was a tad small
too. Needs a bigger room.
Conference
Bages B After I ripped Networkers last year
in this blog for providing cheap bags,
Cisco ran an on-line survey to
pick the new bag style. The style I
liked won out and the bags this year
were decent. Not as good as 2005, but
still nice bags. A significant improvement
over last year's disaster.
Internet
Access C More on this in an upcoming blog.
Mobile
Coverage F Some rooms had no coverage. Zero, nothing.
That needs to be fixed.
World of
Solutions B+ I was very impressed by the amount of
vendors at the conference, but this
is what lowered the grade. There
were too many in that room. It was
hard to move around and see things.
More room is needed next year for
the people.
Food at WoS B This was better than the other meals,
but still not great.
Certification
Lounge B- Great stuff, especially the CCDE
Practical Demo, but needs to be
about 3 times larger.
Chambers
Keynote A This was good for a reason I'm not sure
many people understand. More on this
in an upcoming blog.
CCIE Netvet Lunch
w/ Chambers A+ John (as he asked us to call him)
showed up a little late, but did not
make a speach, he just started taking
our questions for 45 minutes. He covered
any topic, including some I can't
believe people asked him - like
"why the new IOS lines on the 7600
have so many bugs". Come on people!
This is the CEO who meets with
world leaders, not the QA manager.
But, to John's credit, if he didn't
have a good answer for a technology
issue he gave people his card and
asked them to call or e-mail him
(wow!). He then asked us some
questions and then posed for pictures.
Well done!
CCIE Party C+ A nice affair where I got to meet and
network with some very interesting people,
including fellow blogger Wendell Odem. But,
it was not a killer party and when you're
comparing it to the 2005 party at the
Ghost Bar....well, it's hard to
get above a C+.
Warrior's
Keynote B I enjoyed her keynote address. Despite
some negative press in the past, I
think she came off well and discussed
good topics.
Conference
Party B This was a decent party at Universal.
I was impressed they closed off a good
part of Universal just for us. The food
was decent also along with the drinks.
Bare Naked Ladies...well, probably more
of a concert I'd like to take a date too
instead of 3,000 men, but still a good time.
Tickets for Blue Man Crew went too fast.
Better coordination of that show would've
been helpful, including a way to get
tickets beforehand. I had no idea only the
first 1,000 could attend. :-( Also, since
the place was so big, I would've like more
time to get around to see things. Starting
the party earlier may have been a good idea.
Ben Stein
Keynote A I really liked Ben's speach. I was
expecting a typical conference speach about
working hard and striving to achieve, but
Stein gave his (I'll assume "standard")
political speech about the economy, the
country, and values. It was something I
didn't expect and was well received by the
audience. A very nice departure for
Networkers.
Overall B Not the greatest event I've ever been too,
but a well done conference. I think if
Cisco smoothes out some rough edges (food,
buses, mobile coverage, Cisco Store) they'd
hit the "A" range.
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Welcome to Cisco Live (Networkers)
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Michael Morris is a communications team lead and network architect at a $3 billion high-tech company. His background is in enterprise WANs working with telcos, and developing large-scale routing designs. He has worked on networks at government and corporate organizations, including networks at two Fortune 10 companies. In his current role, he leads large-scale IT networking projects and develops and maintains architectural standards for data networks, storage area networks, IP Telephony, and security. Michael is a CCIE and has 11 years experience in networking and communications, including four years as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. He has a bachelor's degree in MIS from the University at Buffalo. Recently, he was awarded the Network Professional Association® (NPA) Professional Excellence and Innovation Award for his work on network architecture, templates and enterprise MPLS design.
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Good Review
I agree with most of this report card. The one thing that both last year and this year's events leave me wondering is if it is time for multiple regional events to make the events smaller and more accessible. I think smaller events could promote less death by PPT and allow more people overall to attend because of shorter travel. What do you think Michael?
RE: Good Review
I like this idea....particularly more on the East Coast. 5/6 on the west coast is getting a tad old.
It would seem with all of
It would seem with all of their buzz on collaboration and telepresence that this would be right up their alley.
Report Card
Another area that Cisco should improve on is the cost/benefit ratio of the guest pass. $295.00 guest pass allows purchaser to access keynotes, super sessions, World of Solutions and the customer appreciation event - all of which is great but they went on the cheap for lunch. Keynote takes you right up to lunch with super sessions after lunch. It would have been nice for my guest (wife) to be permitted to have lunch with the rest of the conference attendees. I am sure that for every guest pass holder that would eat lunch there would be a dozen regular attendees that would skip...